Bartow woman in critical condition after house fire

Wednesday

BARTOW — An elderly Bartow woman was in critical condition late Wednesday afternoon from smoke inhalation following a kitchen fire earlier in the day in her home.

By the time firefighters could get into her home, they found Esther Patterson, 89, unresponsive in her dining room, Fire Chief Jay Robinson said at the scene.

Paramedics were transporting her to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center when she experienced a cardiac emergency, forcing a detour to Bartow Regional Medical Center, according to officers with the Bartow Police Department.

Robinson said neighbors alerted authorities to the fire at 1685 S. Floral Ave. at about 1:20 p.m., and Bartow police officers and firefighters forced their way through the front door when they arrived.

“It was too hot, so they came back out,” he said. “They took out a couple windows and hollered into the house, but didn’t hear anything. I went around back and kicked the back door in, and used a garden hose to knock the fire down.”

He said he managed to hold the fire back for other firefighters to come in from the front, which is when they found Patterson in the dining room area. Firefighter Morgan Clyatt and Lt. John Calandros, both with Bartow Fire Department, pulled her to safety.

“There was a lot of heat in there,” Robinson said, “but not a lot of flame.”

The fire remained contained inside the wood-frame house, and appeared to be isolated to the kitchen area. From outside the house, with blue tarps stretched across its hurricane-damaged roof, none of the windows showed the blackened stain indicative of a fire.

Firefighters also found two dogs and a cat inside the house, and one of the dogs, a black Labrador retriever, required oxygen at the scene. The dog was later taken for treatment by a veterinarian, Robinson said. The other dog and the cat weren’t injured.

A state fire marshal will investigate the cause of the blaze.

Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070. Follow her on Twitter @southpolkscene.

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